Susheria — Restaurant in Washington

A generally good, but relatively underwhelming experience. Susheria's strength is in its atmosphere -- with its golden chandeliers, dim lighting, and extravagant wall decor, the restaurant feels classy (almost overly so) when you first step inside. But the friendly servers, upbeat pop music, and bustling bar quickly dispel that fear of "oh no, I'm not dressed well enough for this place," and it's easy to settle in for a fun evening...or night, depending on when you arrive. The restaurant is a bit too dim for my taste for dinner, as the already low lighting is only exacerbated by the black furniture and tinted windows, but it works beautifully for a couple of rounds of drinks. The staff also has phenomenal taste in music, although it can get a bit too loud if you're seated at the couches or generally within a couple of yards from any of the speakers they have peppered across the restaurant. In essence, Susheria has the perfect ambiance for a bar, but doesn't quite fit what I'm looking for in a restaurant.

I didn't get a chance to try out their drinks, but their food was solid. They offered an array of interesting combinations and fun names that reflected the restaurant's shared Japanese and Peruvian influences. I visited this spot with a friend who is Japanese and studied abroad in Peru, so we were really excited to try out Susheria, which seemed to perfectly meld those two parts of her identity together. We both ordered their nikkei rolls; I opted for their dragon roll, which includes imitation crab, cucumber, avocado, unagi, sesame seeds, and eel sauce, and she chose their chica spicy, which has shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber, and spicy mayo, and is topped with torched salmon. Both were delightful, but, honestly, not anything special. Neither of the rolls provided a unique Peruvian-Japanese experience that I wouldn't have been able to find at a standard Japanese (or Americanized Japanese) restaurant, nor did they deliver a quality or price point that stood out against other sushi spots in the area. We also shared their hamachi tiradito ceviche, which was light and refreshing, but still nothing to write home about.

While I generally enjoyed my experience at Susheria, the ambiance was just slightly off, and the food, while tasty, was overpriced considering how average the quality, portion sizes, and novelty were. If I were to ever crave sushi in the future, I'll likely opt for one of the other spots in the...

I really wanted to love this place — the food was fantastic, the atmosphere was great, and our server, Gabriella, was initially attentive. We had a reservation, were seated on time, and truly enjoyed ourselves for the first hour. I want to give credit where it’s due.

Toward the end of our meal, I ordered a hookah — and only then was I told by Gabriela that our reservation was limited to two hours, and that if we wanted to stay for the hookah, we’d need to move to the bar. She also stated that if I ordered a hookah, I wouldn’t be able to finish it because she would have to rush us out of the table. At that point, we had only been there for one hour. I said that was fine, even though I had no idea there was a two-hour limit — it’s not posted anywhere in the restaurant, and it’s not listed on OpenTable.

I agreed with the understanding that it’s a business, we were done eating since we had ordered a lot of food, they need the table, but that she would also make sure to accommodate us at the bar. She mentioned that there was only one seat available at the moment, but said she’d ask the bartender if someone was about to leave soon so we wouldn’t be left without a seat. Then she asked if I wanted to close out the check — I agreed, trusting that she would come back after checking on the seating.

But she never did.

Instead, Gabriela began actively avoiding eye contact and serving other tables around us. After waiting and feeling increasingly uncomfortable, we finally just got up and left. I stopped her on the way out to explain how I felt — that she said she’d come back and didn’t, and that from my perspective, it felt like we were kicked out after paying. She claimed she thought I was going to find my own seat at the bar, which is not what she originally said.

The worst part is that this all happened after such a good experience. It was my friends birthday! It left a bad taste — not because we couldn’t stay longer, but because we were disregarded and dismissed without clarity or follow-up. That moment changed everything.

I can’t in good faith recommend this place, because I would be mortified if any of my friends were treated the way we were. Hospitality matters just as much as the food — and unfortunately, that was lacking...

Where do I start? I came here with my sister with high expectations. We had passed by this place multiple times and were impressed by the wonderful reviews, so we expected a lot—but sadly, we were very, very wrong.

Everything started off okay. We walked in and were seated right away. The music was a bit loud, but it was manageable. Our server—a dark-skinned woman with a shirt and long curly hair—approached us and asked if we wanted any drinks. She had a positive attitude at first, and we placed our drink orders. It took her a bit longer than expected to return, but she eventually came back to take our food order, which she didn’t write down. That was fine, but she later forgot two items we ordered.

We had already asked for water twice by then, and still, no water came. Even the people next to us were waiting for her to bring their bill. She clearly saw us, but there was a fairly large group behind us that she constantly checked on, while we were completely forgotten.

When our food arrived, we still had no water and no soy sauce. After what felt like forever, she returned to check on the table behind us, and we had to loudly say “excuse me” to get her attention and ask for soy sauce and water again—for the fourth time. She brought the soy sauce, but once again, no water.

When we tried to eat, we realized there were no soy sauce holders, so we had to pour the sauce over the serving plate just to eat. After we finished, we realized the two other items we ordered never came. She eventually returned to clear the table, and at that point, we had had enough—we asked for the bill and left.

We were extremely disappointed and dissatisfied with the attitude we received and how we were treated. While we were there, we saw two older couples leave because they also weren’t getting any service. We were astonished that a place with such supposed class could treat paying customers like this. We always tip, we’re courteous and respectful, and I genuinely don’t believe we gave any reason to be treated so poorly.

We informed the front manager about what happened, and he offered us free drinks. But by then, we were so turned off by the experience that we didn’t want to stay any longer. We felt extremely disrespected and left...